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Flourless Caramel Oat Cookies (Gluten-Free)

This is a fabulous, caramely, butterscotchy, oaty, chewy, gluten-free cookie. They’re missing what is usually a key ingredient in most cookies – wheat flour – but no one will be the wiser, and in fact, you may actually like these better than your standard version oatmeal cookies. At my house, they are now preferred.

And at the Mother’s Day brunch I attended, these were an unqualified hit!

One other attribute about this recipe is it goes together very quickly, and makes a small batch. So when you simply must have a homemade cookie, you can whip these out pretty quickly.

The fact that they have no flour will appeal to those who cannot tolerate wheat in their diets. They also may be appropriate for those who have Celiac disease. Celiac disease is an autoimmune digestive disease that damages the membrane of the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food. It is triggered by eating the protein called gluten, which is found in wheat, barley and rye. Think of it this way: Gluten is the elastic protein in wheat, barley and rye, and that elasticity is what holds bread together, why cakes rise high, and what gives bread products a wonderful chewy, doughy texture. Gluten is the glue.

When people with celiac disease eat foods containing gluten, their immune system responds by damaging the small intestine, and then the body is unable to absorb nutrients into the bloodstream, which can lead to malnourishment. Celiac disease is also known as celiac sprue, nontropical sprue, and gluten-sensitive enteropathy.

Celiacs will want to search out certified gluten-free rolled oats for this recipe (Bob’s Red Mill is a nationally available brand). Even though ordinary oats don’t contain gluten, most oats produced in this country are contaminated for a couple of reasons — because they are made in factories that also produce wheat (from flour on the conveyor belts, which will cross contaminate), or they are stored next to wheat grains, and they are grown in fields next to wheat (this allows wheat spores to float over and contaminate the oats with their gluten). In fact, if oats are grown in the same field that grew wheat the season before, that might be a basis for contamination as well.

So those who must should seek out certified gluten-free oats. (And, as always, consult your physician if appropriate.) The rest of us can use regular old-fashioned rolled oats.

Recipe: Flourless Caramel Oat Cookies

Summary: A fabulous caramely, butterscotchy, oaty, chewy, gluten-free cookie. Prepare to like these better than your standard version oatmeal cookies.

Ingredients

1/3 cup unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups rolled oats (not quick cooking variety) Be sure to buy certified Gluten-Free oats if it is important to you

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

Instructions

Melt the butter. Place all ingredients in a medium-size bowl and mix gently by hand, or at lowest speed with an electric mixer. Mound into a ball of dough. Chill the dough 25 minutes (this is an important step) or overnight if more convenient.

Meanwhile, heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two baking sheets by lining with parchment paper. (Parchment paper is a must, or the cookies will fuse onto the baking sheet.)

Form the chilled dough into 1-inch scoops or balls (a small cookie scoop works well for this), and place on baking sheet. The cookies won’t rise, but will spread out very slightly. Bake for 13-14 minutes or until the edges are browned and the tops of the cookies are medium golden. (Both sheets may be baked at the same time; switch racks and turn sheets back to front at the halfway point.)

Remove from oven and cool well on the baking sheet (about 10 minutes) before removing using a spatula. The cookies should peel off the parchment easily.

Makes 2 dozen cookies.

Source

Adapted from a recipe by Marcy Goldman, a professional baker and food writer based in Montreal.

These cookies are so yummy!!!! The first time I made them they didn’t stick together very well but the second time I pulsed half of the oats in the food processor to make a more flour like consistency and it worked perfectly. My family loved them! I didn’t even tell them they were gluten free.

Elliott,
I’m so glad you liked them! But oh no…the recipe asks you to use parchment paper, which is a different thing than waxed paper. Waxed paper will melt (it is coated with wax) in the oven, and isn’t meant to be baked on. Parchment paper won’t stick. You can find parchment paper near the waxed paper at well stocked grocery stores. Try them again, oh please!

Made these today and they are delicious! Only thing…mine did not look anything like yours. They were dark around the edges and golden brown in the middle. They seem to have spread more then yours. I made 24 just like yours. Never the less…they taste incredible!!

I tried this recipe and they are absolutely delicious! However, they don’t stay together very well, very delicate. I tried making them smaller and they seem to be better, but for my grandson I will go back to the peanut butter cookies. . . . they are also very good and held together well.

Stacy,
I am so glad you figured out the problem. Correct, do NOT use waxed paper! It was not meant to bake with in the oven. Parchment paper is a miracle, and makes cookie removal very, very easy. You can often use parchment paper more than once (depending on oven temp). If it still looks pretty white and clean after your first batch, brush it off and use it again! If it has caramelized sugar or has become scorched, toss it and get a fresh piece. Happy baking!

Just tried these cookies. I didn’t get a dough. The oats didn’t incorporate with the liquid. I used Imperial Margarine instead of butter and light brown sugar instead of dark. Chilling just made the oats on top dry because the liquid settled out of it. Is BUTTER rather than margarine the problem? I melted the margarine like it says, was that a typo?

Holly,
Sorry you had an issue. The light brown sugar vs. dark isn’t the problem. I believe it is the margarine, which is an entirely different animal than butter. I just looked up the ingredient list in Imperial Margarine and it contains water. I have made this recipe a dozen or more times, and it always behaves the same way, so I am pretty confident in it. Try it once more, with butter, and let me know! I also want to make sure that you are using regular (rolled) oats, not the instant oats. Just checking.

I found this on a search for gluten free Christmas cookies, They look delicious! I’m trying to avoid sugar as well as gluten… Do you think palm sugar would work as a substitute? Or perhaps raw maple syrup or honey? Can’t wait to try!

OMG, these are delicious!! Thank you SO much for this recipe. My daughter can’t have most gluten free baked goods because she is also legume-free and these are absolutely perfect and both of us think they’re the best oatmeal cookies ever. I usually don’t like gluten free cookies, but these have no substitutions, so they don’t taste “different” at all. Just fabulous. Like candy coated pieces of cookie heaven!

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Hi from Dorothy Reinhold

Welcome to my kitchen, where the oven is always on, and the fridge is packed with delectables!

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